I can't help but think of Great Britain when I look at the Middle East mess.
Consider this,
The Brits (inhabiting a 90 by 300 mile island) managed to dominate North America, India, coastal China, huge portions of Africa, Caribbean isles, Australia, New Zealand etc etc. These area were not empty wastelands...they had indigeneous people who on occasion rebelled (Sepoy, Opium, Boer) and British lads from York, and Leeds, and Warwick saluted their Monarch, sailed off to the unknown and kept the empire going for centuries. How did they pull it off?
Possible answer: Technology, discipline, morale, and especially the awed understanding by those natives that no one messes with their "Great White Father across the Sea that loves his little red/brown/yellow children." British firepower was heavily feared, and those that decided to challenge it faced a foe that was relentless and eventually: victorious.(much of the time!)
So...why can't the US apply those same characteristics in the Philippines, or Iran, or Iraq, or North Korea? Why don't the natives quake when we "Speak softly?"
Its because for years America has shown an over-abundance of patience, 2nd chances, pleadings, dangling gifts & aid in front of them. We don't play real Politik with true force. We don't want to "rock the boat" or be overbearing. and as witnessed by the pathetic Clinton years, a huge portion of the American left loathes the military while staring vaccuosly in the nearest mirror.
The natives have come to expect America to move slowly (like Russia in 1914), they expect us to be very forgiving, they expect months of negotiations and truces. And whether it is Colombian leftists, or Shining Path, or China's 2 million soldiers...we have become VERY predictable, patient, and always playing by the rules.
Guess what, Israel does NOT PLAY BY THOSE RULES!...and they survive, endure and fight back against amazing odds.
If America is to gain the upper hand with the Axis of Evil or Arafat or whatever threatens the world's stability, we have to have the Assertiveness of Britain under Victoria, the Arms of Krupp in Imperial Deutschland, the Surprise of Japan, and the Unity of America on December 8th, 1941
then...the natives will behave
...or die.